Businesses surprised to see their names on fracking petition

Feb. 21, 2013

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At Tuesday’s Fort Collins City Council meeting, a state oil and gas association presented a signed petition from several Fort Collins businesses and citizens opposed to the proposed ban on fracking within the city.

Out of the 55 businesses listed, the owners of 22 of them said that their inclusion on the list inaccurately represented their business.

Cali Rastrelli’s name is signed at the bottom of a petition submitted to the council. At the top, the petition says in bold letters, “Vote NO on the Fort Collins fracking ban.”

“Big Bill Pizza” is written in the blank where the signer could enter their business or organization.

“I haven’t signed any petition in the last month,” said Rastrelli, a Colorado State University student who lives in student housing. “I didn’t put my name on this. I’m not sure why somebody would have thought to sign my name.”

Big Bill Pizza, Rastrelli’s former employer, is in Centennial, and staff there were unaware of an effort to ban fracking in Fort Collins, said manager Leonna Gara.

Whoever signed Rastrelli’s name spelled it “Rasterelli.”

“I don’t know why I would have misspelled my own name,” she said.

Her roommate may have signed the petition using her name without consent, she said in an email, but noted that the signature looks nothing like either of theirs.

Rastrelli isn’t the only one concerned about the petition, which was compiled in recent weeks by workers for EIS Solutions, a firm working on behalf of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, or COGA, to oppose the proposed Fort Collins fracking ban.

COGA named the business affiliations of many who signed the petition as part of a coalition of Fort Collins businesses, organizations and citizens opposed to the council’s “illegal” use of Fort Collins tax dollars, according to a COGA news release issued Wednesday.

In response to Computer Renaissance owner Mike Stolz saying that his business was inaccurately represented on the list of pro-fracking coalition members, the Coloradoan on Wednesday and Thursday called all the business owners on the list.

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“I would have an issue with fracking in the city limits,” Stolz said, saying he was surprised to find his business on the list.

Of the 55, 33 businesses were reached. Eleven said they signed the petition. Twenty-two said their inclusion on the list inaccurately represents their businesses.

“The petitions speak for themselves,” said Chelsie Fisher, spokeswoman for EIS Solutions, an energy consulting firm based in Grand Junction. “We went to pains to ask the people we talked to if they could speak on behalf of the respective business.”

Some said they weren’t sure what they were signing. Others said they were signing only on behalf of themselves, not their businesses.

One of those was the Fort Collins Club.

“I never authorized that,” said Fort Collins Club owner Todd Heenan, who signed one of the petition sheets. “I sat in a meeting about it once. I never authorized the use of my name or my business’s name.”

Mike Pierce, owner of Ethical Dynamics, said Heenan invited him to a meeting of business owners several weeks ago to talk about fracking.

“I’m just flabbergasted that that was an actual petition used and they had the audacity to present it to City Council with our names and businesses’ names on it,” Pierce said, calling the meeting “casual,” but he doesn’t remember who organized it.

Joe Megysey, who is listed as the coalition spokesperson on a news release but is a contract public relations person for EIS Solutions and COGA, said he doesn’t know how each signature got there.

But, he added “when the petitions were presented to each business, we made it very clear what they were signing. The petition itself was also written in plain language and presented in a large font.”

Derek Krasuski, co-owner of Northern Colorado Carpets, said he signed the petition. He even had a canvasser take his picture.

“When I signed it, I thought it was for outside the city limits,” Krasuski said. “We don’t want the company represented for fracking within the city limits.”

Fisher said each business owner understood what the petition meant.

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“When a co-owner of a business signs a petition that says ‘Vote NO on the Fort Collins Fracking Ban’ and when that co-owner agrees to have a photo taken of himself and the company for promotional purposes, obviously they know what they are doing,” Fisher said.

Every signer of the petition was also asked to verify that they were authorized to speak on behalf of the business they represented, Megysey said.

“They said they all were,” Megysey said.

That’s not what happened at Anders’ Auto Glass on South Mason Street, according to Anders’ Auto Glass owner Tamara Olivett.